UPDATE: Charleston Police announced Friday afternoon that officers have made an arrest in connection to the 35 overdoses reported in the city from Wednesday night/Thursday morning.
Anton Jeffries
Anton Marcel Jeffries, 31, of Akron, Ohio, was arrested and charged with intent to deliver fentanyl.
According to Charleston Deputy Police Chief Jason Webb, Jeffries was just recently released from federal prison and had an active warrant out of Cabell County.
Webb said it took a lot for them to be able to make a quick arrest in the case.
“It was intense, there were a lot of people that missed out on a lot of sleep, a lot of time with their families but those are sacrifices that our offers make and our investigators make to make sure that we don’t lose a human life and if that’s what they’re going to do I can’t be more proud of them,” he said during a press conference Friday.
Authorities believe the fentanyl may have been laced with the tranquilizer drug xylazine or commonly referred to as the zombie drug.
Webb said they believe it was some type of tranquilizer drug because of how the individuals reacted to the Narcan.
“Usually when you hit somebody with Narcan it will stop the opioid for the most part, this time, they were either coming out violent or coming out still, still under the tranquilizer efforts, and they just weren’t recovering like they normally would,” he said.
30 out of the 35 individuals required medical treatment.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin is warning drug dealers tied with this week’s rash of drug overdoses in the city.
“If you are in the city of Charleston peddling this poison to our residents, to our neighbors, to our family members, you will be held accountable—we’re coming for you,” Goodwin said Friday during an appearance on 580Live with Dave Allen.
There were 35 overdoses from Wednesday night into Thursday morning, the most Goodwin can remember in any one night. Most of them were in the Flats neighborhood on Charleston’s West Side. Charleston police tell MetroNews it appears the overdoses were caused by fentanyl laced with the tranquilizer drug Xylazine. It’s commonly referred to as tranq, short for tranquilizer, or the zombie drug.
Goodwin said thankfully all 35 overdoses the city knows of were non-fatal. She said there could have been deaths had it not been for the city’s first response CARE (Coordinated Addiction Response Effort) team, firefighters and police officers. Narcan was used to revive all of those who overdosed.
“I attribute the non-fatal overdoses to our rapid response,” Goodwin said. “Unfortunately, we here in Appalachia and all across the Mountain State are getting good at that rapid response.”
SOAR WV put out an overdose alert Thursday.
“There’s been a record number of overdose 911 calls in the past 24 hours, with what sounds like 30-40 known reports. Many folks are reportedly needing hospitalization and intubation. Please go slow, carry naloxone, and CALL 911,” the alert said. “Also you can call ‘Never Use Alone’ (877-696-1996) if you plan to use and want a safety buddy.”
The rash of overdoses came a week ahead of next Thursday’s national Save a Life Day when free naloxone will be distributed across a number of states including West Virginia.
Investigation ongoing
Goodwin said the investigation into who is responsible for providing the fentanyl and selling the fentanyl that caused this week’s overdoes is advancing.
“We have a low crime rate and a very high solve rate because our folks are always investigating and always looking and I feel confident that we’re going to secure and take off the streets the drugs that being pushed around,” Goodwin said.
There’s a lot of finger pointing on social media. Goodwin said police officers are going through the proper channels in their investigation.
“Sooner rather than later we’ll have more to share but please know that we have lots of different trains on lots of different tracks amd they’ve been running for a while,” she said.